The United States
spent billions of dollars and over 15 years to stop the Taliban from indulging in
and profiting out of Afghanistan’s opium and heroin trade. The US military
presence in the region conducted airstrikes and raids on labs to control the illegal
flow of drugs. But all that effort now seems to have been in vain.

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As the
Taliban seize power in Afghanistan and the US wraps up its two-decade-long war
effort, the war-torn country remains in the closed grip of fundamentalist
forces and a burgeoning drug trade.

Afghanistan
is the biggest opiate supplier in the world and is expected to remain so
considering Taliban’s stake in the trade. Taliban is taking over Afghanistan at
a time when widespread destruction due to war has left millions homeless. This
leaves millions of Afghans dependent almost solely on the narcotics trade to eke
out a living.

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This
dependence may lead to further instability in the war-ravaged country as the
Taliban, other militias and local warlords fight over drug money.

Some US and
United Nations officials believe that Afghanistan’s slide into chaos is creating
conditions that will allow for even higher amounts of opiate production as the
Taliban will seek to derive a large chunk of their funds from opium trade,
according to a Reuters report.

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“The
Taliban have counted on the Afghan opium trade as one of their main sources of
income,” Cesar Guide, the head of UN’s Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in
Kabul, told Reuters.

Security
officials believe that this moment of chaos is the ideal time for drug lords to
position themselves in proximity to the political masters. The Taliban had once
banned poppy cultivation back in 2000 in a bid to gain international
legitimacy. But experts say that Taliban’s stance on poppy has changed since
then owing to local pressures and the potential for profit.